The Cie'th Stones's Focus
by HurricaneWhip
Summary: With the discovery of yet another Cie'th Stone deep in the caverns of Mah'habara, Hope questions the reason for the ancient l'Cie's fall.


**A/N:** I've been replaying FFXIII in time for the sequel's release and with the replay comes the completion of the Cie'th Stone missions. This takes place during the trek in the Mah'habara Subterra on their way to Oerba and assumes they had gone off and done some of the missions along the way. (Actually maybe a bit out of order...) :) **Slight Warning**: Wee bit of fourth wall breaking. But it's necessary for this fic. I tried to get it to work as well as I could, though.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything to do with Final Fantasy and probably never will. Of course if SE would like to hire me, who am I to turn it down?

**Summary**: With the discovery of yet another Cie'th Stone deep in the caverns of Mah'habara, Hope questions the reason for the ancient l'Cie's fall.

**The Cie'th Stones's Focus**

The day had been a taxing one in the Mah'habara Subterra. The tunnel trails had been uneven with stray scrap metal every which way and the artificial lights dimming if not completely gone. The danger had increased with the discovery of haywire excavation robots; the mindless drones were attacking anything within range and there seemed to be an unending supply of them.

It had been in the middle of this chaos when the group of six had come across yet another mourning Cie'th stone. Standing alone in the labyrinth, its silent cries beckoned them over, begging to be heard; praying that its Focus could finally be completed.

Each closing their eyes, the l'Cie placed their hand upon the cold, gray Cie'th Stone, feeling that familiar heartbeat pulsing through the stone. Within moments, they heard the fallen l'Cie's please:

_Who designed this place? It's a maze of dead ends! How am I supposed to find the ambling bellows? Knowing it's in a twilight cavern doesn't help much when I'm trapped in a maze of the blasted things!_

_Curse my luck. I'm running out of time. I'd every intention of fulfilling my Focus, and now I'm going to end up a Cie'th!_

"Sounds like the boy got lost, eh," Fang mused, as she looked at their surroundings. "Can't say I blame 'im, we're not doing so well ourselves."

"So, what? Are we going to help this one out too, then?" Sazh asked no one in particular. "We don't quite have the time to go on a detour. Day's almost done and I don't want to be in this place any longer than I have to."

Nodding in agreement, Lightning stepped away from the fossilized Cie'th. They were already struggling to find their way through this maze, rushing off to chase some ancient robot would not help matters. Just as she was going to suggest that they leave this one alone, the sound of the youngest l'Cie's voice caught her attention.  
>A good few feet above them all, Hope crouched on top of a pile of scrap and pointed towards the bridge to their immediate west. "I think it's right there. The mark, I mean."<p>

"It is?" Snow asked eagerly, rushing to climb up near Hope and get a clearer view. A Boxed Phalanx with rusted blue paint swayed left and right, refusing to move from its spot. Its fellow Cryptos stood at guard, awaiting further instructions. "That's the Ambering Bellows, all right. Right on the bridge."

Lightning cursed their luck as the two boys carefully edged their way back down to solid ground with slipping. "I guess we have no choice then," she concluded. Snow would have, undoubtedly, eventually convinced them all to help anyway; and failing that, run off by himself. It was probably for the best that the mark was close by. "Let's go."

The Ambering Bellows had not been easy to defeat. On its own it was strong, but it came accompanied by various Cryptos and continued to call more as their numbers dwindled. But once the l'Cie focused their attacks on their main target, the robots swiftly found their end.

Once the final drone collapsed to the ground, the sparks of electricity growing faint, Vanille closed her eyes as she placed her right hand to her chest. "I can feel it. He's thanking us," she smiled.

"Yeah," Snow agreed, throwing his fist into the air. "He no longer has any regrets."

Sazh nodded slowly, "To get so close to his Focus only to turn Cie'th. He must've felt horrible."

"He _was_ close, wasn't he?" Hope asked angrily, his head held low and out of view from the others. "He probably didn't even get a chance to see it, let alone fight it before his Brand turned him into-"

"Hey now," Sazh interrupted. The boy's hands had clenched themselves into fists and his small body had begun to shake. "What's got you so upset?"

"I've been thinking," Hope declared after a few moments of silence. "The Cie'th Stones...how many of them have we seen so close to their target so far? If they had only been given another day—or even just an hour! Did the fal'Cie intentionally do this to them? Were they even supposed to get the chance to fight?"

The questions hung in the air, as the rest of the six repeated it all to themselves. Lightning found herself staring absentmindedly in the direction of the last Cie'th Stone they had (hopefully) freed from an eternity of regret. Hope was right. There were quite a few Cie'th Stones resting around Gran Pulse. Some had been far enough away that it was quite understandable that they had run out of time. But there were a quite a few that seemed to have nearly arrived to their target, only to fall to the progression of their Brand. If they had just been given one hour more of time, perhaps they would have completed their Focus and turned to crystal and given the chance to one day live on again.

But they hadn't. Instead, they had to witness the horror of seeing their Brand evolve to its fullest and were turned into monsters. They may have been cursed to a slow death.

There was just so much they didn't understand about the nature of the fal'Cie and of the Brands that a human would receive. Each Brand had a different length of time before it's expiration; it was all dependant on the Focus itself. And there was always the danger of an emotional outburst speeding up the process. But could the fal'Cie still control the progression of a Brand at will? But what good would that do?

"What are you trying to say?" Snow asked, his voice low.

"I think..." Lightning began, moving away from the group, "I think I see what Hope is saying. Their real Focus was to get to a specific destination. Their target was probably just a lure to get them there."

"Ah, I get it," Fang nodded, catching on to the train of thought. "L'Cie who turn to crystal will one day awaken – they can't be used. But Cie'th will one day lose all power and turn to stone for eternity. We can even warp around Gran Pulse with some."

"Right," Lightning agreed. "Maybe the fal'Cie didn't want them to turn to crystal...maybe-"

"-their goal was to have these all over to help train other l'Cie," Hope interrupted. "Maybe they were never given a chance. Maybe they were sent to their doom for _us."_

And with that, the group once again fell into another heavy silence. If Hope was right, countless lives had been ruined just so the fal'Cie of Gran Pulse could prepare yet another training ground for the future l'Cie responsible for Ragnarok. Families had been torn apart because of these impossible Foci and the citizens seemingly dwindled to nothing. Perhaps by completing these missions, they were doing just what the fal'Cie were hoping they'd do.

"It's doesn't matter," Vanille declared, bouncing in between members in an attempt to lighten the air. "Even if you're right, that shouldn't stop us from saving them! We should do what's right. Let's help these l'Cie finally get the rest they deserve."

"We should focus on arriving at Oerba first," Lightning reminded. "If we can find some information there, anything, it might help us prevent future victims."

"Get rid of the Brand and the fal'Cie have no power over humans anymore," Sazh smiled at the possibility. It was their best bet in the mess they had gotten themselves into...and could serve as valuable information. If the fal'Cie could no longer force a human to bend to their will, then Cocoon could be saved and there would be no more sacrifices.

"We'll beat those damn fal'Cie at their own game!" Snow agreed. Stepping off the bridge they had stalled themselves on, the self-proclaimed hero of the group sprinted ahead and further into the maze. Waving back at the group, he yelled, "C'mon guys, let's hurry it up!"

Shaking her head in disapproval Lightning just sighed to herself. "He's going to get everything after him if he doesn't shut up." Taking a few steps backwards, Lightning addressed the group. "Let's catch up before he gets swarmed."

"A little late for that," Hope half-joked, pointing to the mass of excavation drones and puddings rushing towards the lone fighter. Drawing her gunblade, Lightning just bit back a curse before she and the others raced off.

The day had been long in the maze-like tunnels of Mah'habara Subterra, and it felt like it wasn't about to end any time soon. But Lightning knew their resolve had all just become a little stronger.

**-End-**

**A/N: **So, what'd you think? I know this story seemed so random and had no real purpose...it was just a short-fic I came up with and couldn't stop myself from doing. Reading the Cie'th Stones's requests in the missions kinda got to me at times. Quite a few of them just seemed to lose to their brands just mere steps away from their target and it got me thinking about maybe, just maybe, that was the commanding fal'Cie's plan for them all along. Let them turn to Cie'th and eventually, to stone so they could function as training devices for the l'Cie that would bring about Ragnarok. It was a bit of a sobering thought and drove me to finish all the missions even more.

I know Fang had like, two lines in this ficlet but I still feel like I didn't do a great job with her dialogue. I just find her hard to write. Sorry :( Hope was also supposed to be the main character for this one-shot but somehow Lightning became the main, lol.

I hope this story makes sense. I know it's not all that great. Uuurgh, anyway I should get back to work on the other fanfics I have in progress and have been slacking on.


End file.
